It's No Fun Without You
by lolopixie
Summary: Robin forces the Titans to go on a hike and picnic at a lake, but not all of them are excited about it, particularly Raven. What will he do to help her have fun? Read and find out. Oneshot, RobRae


Okay, I decided to try a one-shot here. This is a RobRae fic, so if you're severely against that pairing, then you might get kind of annoyed with this. I don't really have much to say here, so just enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. (No one on this site _does_, so is it really that important to write this?)

* * *

It was a nice day. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, and all of her friends were there, but Raven wasn't enjoying herself so far. The only good part about it was the fact that no one was talking, or, at least until Beast Boy started complaining again.

"Guys! Wait _up_!"

The others all paused and turned around, waiting for their green friend to catch up to them. Even though he had only been about twenty feet behind the group, it seemed like it took him a full minute before he was able to drag himself, panting and out of breath, up to where the others were standing. He was slouched over with his hands on his knees for support, eyes closed, sweating, and waiting to catch his breath before he could speak. He was really beginning to try the others' patience.

"BB, are you _ok_? I mean, you don't look too good…"

Cyborg leaned forward a bit to get a better look at his comrade.

"Yeah…. I'll be…. fine…. I just… need… to…"

"Rest?" Raven finished for him. He looked so pathetic right now, but a part of her couldn't help but find it amusing. Beast Boy was always saying that when it came to strength and endurance, he could 'totally whoop her', but this was a humiliating defeat on his part.

The young changeling lifted his arm with his index finger extended and was waving it around at Raven as if to make a point, but he was still too tired to say anything. If he had looked up at the others he would have seen four rather odd-looking expressions staring back at him, each one of his friends with eyebrows raised and mouth slightly agape in awe of how ridiculous he looked. Finally, after a long dramatic moment he was able to manage a weak "Exactly."

"Um, friend, perhaps in this condition it would be best for you to turn around and return to the car."

"Yeah man, Star's right. We've only been hiking for an hour and if you're already this tired…" Cyborg trailed off, knowing that Beast Boy had understood what he was saying.

"For heaven's sake! It's just a hike in the mountains. Beast Boy, you're a _superhero_, you do _training_! Why is this so difficult for you?" Robin asked, slightly annoyed that one of his team members would show such weakness so early on.

Beast Boy stood up and addressed his leader. "Well maybe I _wouldn't_ be so tired if Cyborg hadn't made _me_ do all the shopping this morning by myself! Do you know how hard it is running from store to store while carrying all of the groceries, when you're given a 30-minute time limit?"

Raven rolled her eyes and walked over to a rock on the side of the dirt trail that was in the shade. Letting out an irritated sigh she sat down and folded her arms. She had already had to listen to this argument once today in the car on the way here, not to mention the argument between Cyborg and Beast Boy before he even left to do the shopping, and quite frankly she was getting tired of it.

"Please friends, let us not dwell on events of the past. We should instead focus on the task at-hand of reaching this lake for our picnicking later."

The boys stopped their bickering and turned toward Starfire, who as usual had an innocent childlike grin on her face, looking like she was having the time of her life. Robin was the only one to respond to her comment.

"You're right, this fighting isn't helping us at all. This day was supposed to be about having fun together, so let's just get to that lake so we can eat and hang out."

"Aw man…. We don't even get to rest for awhile?" Beast Boy whined.

"I'll tell you what," Cyborg began as Starfire started walking again, taking the lead, "since _I'm_ the reason that you're so tired right now, I'll let you rest on my shoulder for a little bit. Sound fair?"

"Dude, you're the best."

Without saying anything else, Beast Boy changed into a butterfly and landed on Cyborg's shoulder. Shaking his head slightly and trying to suppress a laugh, the half-robot began walking and caught up with Starfire, who was eager to begin a conversation with him about the 'mountainous vegetation' and how it differed from that of the city where they lived.

"What about you Raven, aren't you coming?" Robin asked looking back at Raven, who was still sitting on her rock.

"I was thinking of maybe just staying here. No offense, but I'm not having much fun. You guys go on ahead."

Robin stood there silently for a moment and then crossed his own arms and walked over to her. He sat down on the rock that was next to her and looked up at her expectantly.

"What?"

"I'm not leaving you here alone, Raven. I planned this day so that we could all have fun together, and if you're not going then neither am I."

This took her slightly by surprise, but then again it was a very 'Robin' thing to do. "But _you're_ the one that wanted to have fun with your friends. It doesn't make sense for you to stay. Besides," she added, "if _you_ don't go, then the rest of them won't have fun."

The dark-haired hero simply leaned back a bit and looked up at the path where his friends were already out of view. "No, they'll still have fun. As long as there's more than one person there, anyone one of those guys can find a way to have the time of their lives, so they don't need me to be there."

His casual and off-hand way of saying that annoyed Raven. She could see what he was doing, but she wasn't going to back down or give in. He was acting like he didn't care on purpose, so that she would feel guilty and decide to go so that he could too. But she wouldn't let him win.

They sat there for a full minute with neither of them speaking. Raven was unsettled by the silence and kept glancing over at Robin from the corner of her eye. He was just sitting there, whistling. He acted like he didn't have a care in the world, and she could tell that he wasn't about to leave her alone and go join the others. How did he do it? How was he somehow able to get others to do exactly what he wanted?

With another deep sigh Raven unfolded her arms and stood up. She turned around and stood directly in front of Robin, hands on her hips, agitation evident on her face. "Well?" she asked impatiently.

"Well what?" he replied innocently, knowing that he had won this wordless battle of wills.

"Don't be dumb, you know damn well what I meant. So are you coming with me or not?"

Robin couldn't help but smirk. Victory was just so sweet, especially against a rival like Raven who almost never gave in to others. She was his greatest opponent when it came matters of the mind, and it wasn't often that he came out successful from one of their 'contests'. And besides, she just looked so cute when she was upset like that.

He got up from his own rock and stood in front of Raven, just inches away from her. "Well, if you _really_ want to go, then I guess I'll go too." He laughed lightly as he said it, clearly trying to annoy her just a little bit. Needless to say, it worked.

Raven narrowed her eyes and glared at him, but Robin merely ignored the threatening look and put his hand on her shoulder, gesturing for her to move. "Shall we continue then?"

* * *

"Are we _there_ yet?" Beast Boy yet again complained. 

"Does it look like we're at a lake?" Cyborg answered his friend's stupid question.

Beast Boy now shifted his attention to Robin, who was in charge of this whole event. "But, how much farther do we have to go?"

"It's just around the next corner," their leader replied somewhat monotonously.

"You _are_ aware that you've been saying that for the last forty-five minutes, right?" It was the first time that Raven had spoken to Robin since she and him had that brief discussion before at the rocks.

"Well, yeah, but it _is_ just around the next corner… or, one of the next corners anyway."

"HA! See? I knew it, you're not sure!" Beast Boy pointed at Robin accusingly, but no one seemed to take any notice.

"Of course I know where we're going Beast Boy, I'm just not quite sure how much further it is. I _would_ be more sure if a certain green someone hadn't decided to try and bushwhack to find the lake faster."

"Yeah BB, don't you know that all shortcuts in the mountains take longer?" Cyborg added.

"Oh fine, let's all put the blame on the funny green guy, I see how it is."

"Hey Rob, I have a question. If taking BB's 'shortcut' threw us off our original course and made us forget where exactly we are, then why are we still taking it?"

"Because, Cyborg, now we know where we're going. I'm certain that the lake is this way," he said pointing in the direction they were walking. "I'm just not sure how _far_ this way."

"Can I just say how glad I am that you convinced me to come, Robin?" Raven said quietly. She had been walking next to him for the last few minutes, and had yet to make any form of a positive remark.

"Oh, come on," he said looking at her and giving her a smile, "you're telling me that you haven't found this fun at all? How often do you get to see Beast Boy make an idiot out of himself and get lost in the mountains?"

Raven kept her eyes straight ahead of her, seeming to have her main attention on something else entirely. "I thought you said we weren't lost."

"Uh, well maybe we are a little bit. Just don't tell the others. If BB found out, he'd give up right here and turn back around. But I'm almost positive that it's just around the next corner."

"You know, it's amazing that with you as leader the Titans haven't completely fallen apart yet. I've got an idea, though." The blue-cloaked teenager paused and looked around to find her other friend. "Hey Starfire!"

The Tamaranian girl raced over to where Raven was standing with hands clasped eagerly in front of her. Well, it was obvious that _she_ was enjoying herself today. "Yes, Raven?"

"Since you're into this whole 'hiking experience', I was wondering if you wanted to fly up and see if you could tell where it is that we're trying to go."

"That would be most pleasant, but why do you not simply fly and see for yourself?"

"Because you were with Robin when he was looking this place up on the internet, so you're the only other person who knows what it looks like."

"Oh, I see. Yes, I will gladly search for the location of our destination."

A second later Starfire was up forty feet in the air scanning in all directions, until finally the Titans heard her yell, "I see it!"

They all stopped walking and looked up at her, hope in most of their hearts that this seemingly endless hike would soon be over. "So where is it?" Raven asked as her friend landed back on the ground.

"It is just around that next corner."

Everyone fell silent as Starfire's words reached their ears. That definitely wasn't what they were expecting her to say. It certainly was ironic.

"I _told_ you guys it was."

"Don't even start man," Cyborg said, already continuing walking.

The five Titans all walked without saying a word until they reached the long-talked-about 'corner'. Once they walked past it Beast Boy's eyes lit up and he raced forward, only to stop after about ten feet.

"Hey, what's the deal? You call _this_ a lake?"

The others gathered around, all staring at the lake in front of them. It was more like a really big pond, and it only looked about seven feet deep in the center, maybe eight.

"So what if it's kinda small? It's still a really nice, peaceful place, and since it's not a big tourist attraction no one else will be here to bother us."

"I think it is magnificent!" cried Starfire, already making herself comfortable on a blanket that she had lain on the ground.

"Hey man, as long as we can sit down and eat I'll be happy wherever I am, so pass the sandwiches!"

Everyone sat down on Starfire's blanket, and Robin set down the food basket that Beast Boy had asked him to carry after 'his arms became too tired to hold it any longer,' even though it was Cyborg that had carried it up most of the way.

Beast Boy and Cyborg wolfed down their food and in an instant were heading off to find some skipping stones and play at the water's edge. Starfire watched them skip the first few rocks with fascination, then turned to Robin. "Robin, how is it that they are able to merely deflect those stones off of the water's surface?"

"You know Star, I'm sure that if you asked them they'd teach you how to do it too."

Starfire's emerald green eyes suddenly lit up with excitement and joy, and a few seconds later she too was gone, down at the far side of the small lake with the other boys.

"And then there were two…" Robin said, still watching as Starfire approached the other Titans.

"Yeah well, sorry, but you're on your own Robin. I'm going to be reading over there."

Robin turned to face Raven and saw her pointing to a big tree off in the distance. "What? You're not seriously going to come all this way just to go and read by yourself under some far-away tree, are you?"

"That's the plan," she mumbled, standing up and straightening out her cloak.

"I forbid it," Robin said suddenly, now standing as well.

"What?" She was confused. Surely she had heard him wrong.

"I said, I forbid it. You can't go off and read, not today."

That was not a good thing to say to Raven. It was bad enough to tell her what she could and could not _do_, but to not allow her to _read_? That was unforgivable. She loved reading. That was how she spent most of her free time, which Robin knew, and for him to 'forbid' her to read? Boy was he in for it.

"Excuse me, but what gives you the idea that you can boss me around like that?" She wasn't speaking in her usual monotone, but was practically spitting out every word she spoke in rising volume.

"Raven, I didn't mean to insult you, but today is just about us all having fun together. It's for the good of the team."

"Well the team gets along just fine when I don't spend time with them at home, so they should be fine today too."

Raven turned around and started to walk toward the tree that she had pointed to earlier, when all of the sudden she felt something stop her. Robin had reached out and grabbed her right arm just above the elbow in a firm grip. She was surprised by this and paused mid-step until Robin walked around to stand in front of her, face-to-face, with his hand still clasped over her arm.

"That's not true, it's not much fun without you out there with us." He was staring straight into her eyes, and she couldn't help but feel intimidated and at a loss for words. She had just opened her mouth to try to say something when Robin added, "And I'm pulling rank over you, so you'd better deal with my decision."

Damn their ranks! What good was being second-in-command if it was only the person who was ranked above her that gave her any problems?

She didn't know what to say. Part of her wanted to scream, part of her wanted to yell, to punch him in the face, to storm off, and part of her knew that she simply had to accept it, her reasonable side. She didn't actually say or do anything, she merely sighed and let her angry glare fall to the ground. How dare he do that to her?

Robin took her silence as acceptance of what he said and smiled once again. "Ok, so now the only problem is deciding what to do…"

"Well I _had_ planned on reading, but _that's_ obviously out the window…" Raven said somewhat bitterly. Robin took no notice and continued thinking.

"I've got it! We'll build a sandcastle."

Raven looked up at him with a 'you've-got-to-be-kidding-me' expression on her face. "Robin, there's no _sand_ here, we're in the mountains…"

"Well, the dirt here is sand_like_… It'll work. Come on…"

As he turned around his grip on her arm loosened and his hand gently slid down her arm until he took hold of her hand, pulling her behind him as he made his way toward to lake. Once they got there he let go and bent down, checking the 'sand' to make sure that it was suitable. Raven unconsciously began rubbing her arm where Robin had touched it. It was still tingling from his warmth. She didn't think she liked this feeling, and she was tired of Robin making her feel new things today. She would definitely make him pay for it.

"All right Raven, sit down and I'll show you how to make an awesome sandcastle."

"Fantastic."

She sat down across from him about two feet away, leaving room to build a castle in between them. Robin began scooping up the sand into different piles, then leaned in closely to make sure that the piles were evenly spaced out. Raven had almost forgotten what a perfectionist Robin could be. She could tell that this was not going to be an easy task.

Thirty minutes later and Robin was still working on the details of his second tower, while Raven had already done four. Of course he had 'helped' her put the finishing touches on hers, but she didn't mind. If he wanted to obsessive about how the towers looked, then he could be obsessive. She was, however, becoming increasingly impatient with how long it was taking him to just build a tower.

"Hey Raven, I ran out of water in my cup, could you go fill it up in the lake? The sand is just a _bit_ too dry…" Without taking his eyes off of his tower, he picked up his cup and held it out to Raven with one hand.

This was just too much. Everything that he had done today had added on to her frustration, and this tiny act was the last straw. He wanted more water? Fine, she'd give him more water…

If Robin hadn't been so focused on his masterpiece he would have noticed Raven's eyes turning white as she whispered almost inaudibly, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

Suddenly Robin felt as if he were standing underneath a waterfall as a stream of cool water poured over him and his precious sandcastle, drenching him completely. When the water finally stopped he merely looked up at Raven blankly and stared at her expression.

"What was that for?"

"You were starting to annoy me."

He couldn't help but laugh. "You could have just told me, you know," he said standing up and brushing all of the sand off of his uniform. "If you think this is boring then we'll just do something else." He reached forward, extending his hand to Raven, and helped her up. Amazingly for only being a couple feet away, she was completely dry.

"What did you have in mind?"

Robin suddenly had a devilish grin on his face that was unnoticed by Raven, who was too busy brushing the sand off of her own uniform. "Well…"

The next second Raven was taken by surprise and was swept off the ground as Robin threw her over his shoulder. He had to do this fast before her shock wore off, because she sure wouldn't hesitate to use her powers. He quickly ran a few steps forward, water splashing as his boots trudged through the lake's shallow water. Luckily for him, however, the lake was at its deepest about fifteen feet in. He was already about ten feet in, and deciding that he was out of time, he threw Raven the remaining five feet, with a triumphant, satisfactory smile as he saw the splash that she made when she hit the water.

"NO WAY!"

Robin looked over to see the other Titans all staring wide-eyed at him in the water, though none more so than Beast Boy, whose chin was practically on the ground. They had obviously seen him throw Raven into the lake.

The sound of a water splash was heard from behind him, so he quickly turned, expecting to see an ill-tempered Raven right where he had left her, but when he looked he didn't see her. All he saw were a few ripples on the surface from where he had heard the splash.

"Raven?"

He swam a few feet closer, confused. Why hadn't she come up yet? He was about to call her name again when suddenly he felt a strong force pull him quickly under the water. After the initial shock, he opened his eyes and began scanning his surroundings. He had one of Raven's black energy tentacles wrapped around his knees, and to his surprise he also had an arm wrapped around his waist. 'How did Raven manage to go around and get behind me without me seeing her?'

He managed to use her arm around his waist to his advantage, grabbing her wrist and twisting it slightly until she let go and he was able to bring her around so that she was in front of him. His knees were still bound together, but now he had her in his own grip and she was at his mercy. He was holding her tightly, and he had both of her arms pinned to her sides, leaving her helpless. Sure, she could have used her powers to escape, but where was the sportsmanship in that?

She tried to struggle free, but found it useless. Robin was simply better when it came down to hand-to-hand. Her physical strength was that of a normal teenage girl, whereas he was abnormally agile and strong for someone without powers of some sort.

The next thing she knew, she felt his lips lightly brush against hers, but what surprised her most was the fact that she didn't pull away. In fact, after a few seconds she felt herself give in as she leaned into his kiss. It was so warm and soft. Her head began to spin, and she felt like she could get lost in his kiss forever.

The kiss, however, ended much sooner than she would have liked due to the lack of oxygen underwater. Robin pulled away slightly, looking into her eyes and trying to read her expression. Raven noticed that his arms were wrapped around her waist, which she didn't remember him doing, and that her energy that had bound his knees together had vanished. With a small kick off the ground, Robin pulled both himself and her to the surface, where they merely floated silently, still looking into each other's eyes, his arms still around her waist.

Neither knew exactly what to say, but they didn't want to ruin this moment. They could have stayed like that for hours, which they probably would have if their friends hadn't been nearby.

"Oh my God, Robin is SO DEAD! I've got five bucks on Raven!"

Beast Boy's voice broke the silence and pulled the two soaking teens back to their senses.

"No way man," they heard Cyborg reply. "No one's stupid enough to take that bet."

"Hey!" Robin called back indignantly, now turning around to face the other Titans. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh… Well, no offense Robin, but when Rae gets angry she's tougher than anyone I know."

"Yeah dude, take it from someone who's been on the receiving-end of most of her tantrums," Beast Boy said with an air of wisdom about him.

Starfire seemed to take an interest in the conversation and decided to give her own view on the subject. "I do not know, Robin can be quite strong, and resourceful. How angry do you think Raven would be exactly?"

"Star," Beast Boy began, "Robin threw her into a _lake_! You've seen how mad she gets when people just try to convince her to go swimming…"

The alien princess seemed to be considering what her green friend had just told her. After several moments she came to a conclusion. "Yes, I think you are indeed correct. Raven would most definitely win a battle with the given circumstances."

Robin's ego was slightly hurt. Did _no one_ think him capable? "You guys are supposed to be my _friends_. You really think I couldn't win?"

"No," the other three all replied in unison, shaking their heads as their attention returned to finding more skipping stones.

Robin shook his own head disbelievingly and turned around in the water to face Raven. "Can you believe that they all-" he stopped. She wasn't there. Spinning around, he noticed that she was hovering above the edge of the water, flying back to their lunch spot. She set herself down lightly and walked over to the blanket to lie down, without so much as glancing back at him.

'Great, she's mad,' Robin thought to himself. 'I shouldn't have kissed her, that was way out of line. I should probably go apologize to her.'

With a deep sigh Robin turned and began swimming back toward the edge where Raven had landed. Getting out, he stepped over his earlier attempt at building a sand castle and walked over to the blanket where she was lying with her eyes closed. As he got closer, he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. The more he thought about it, the others were right. If he and Raven _were_ to get into a fight when she was angry with him, he had to admit that the odds were definitely in her favor. He only hoped that she wouldn't hurt him too badly when he got there.

After what seemed like ages Robin finally reached the blanket. As his shadow passed over Raven's resting form, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Look, Raven, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened."

"Robin,-" she began, but was cut off almost immediately.

"-No, let me finish before you say anything. I know that I shouldn't have done that, and I apologize. I'm the leader of the Titans, and it's supposed to be my job to make sure that there aren't any problems between any of us, and I know that I messed that up. It was stupid of me to do that, and I'm sorry." He inhaled deeply, having not taken a single breath since he began speaking to her. She merely looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, obviously not expecting him to say what he did. "It was wrong of me to take advantage of you like that, and I understand if you're mad at me. I'm mad at myself too," he finished, looking down at the ground out of shame and embarrassment.

"I'm not mad at you."

"What?" he asked, now returning his gaze to her. "But-"

"I said I wasn't mad, Robin, so let it go." She spoke casually and didn't sound the least bit angry. This only furthered Robin's confusion. Seeing his bewildered expression, Raven rolled her eyes and motioned for him to sit down next to her.

"Look," she said once he had settled on the blanket, "you kissed me, and I kissed you back. It's not like you attacked me or something. There's nothing to apologize for."

"So then, you're not mad at me for kissing you?"

"No, it was actually really nice. But I _am_ getting a little bit frustrated that I've had to say that three times already," she added jokingly.

Well _this _had definitely gone better than he thought it would… And she had said that she _liked_ the kiss.

"But you got out of the water so fast, I assumed that you were angry with me."

"Robin, do you have any idea how uncomfortable a wet leotard is?" She gave him a small smile, seeing his confusion starting to subside. "But I do appreciate the apology. It was sweet of you to think about my feelings."

Robin sat there and stared at her, not sure of what to say. "Well I feel stupid," he finally said after another minute. "I just made a fool out of myself for nothing."

"I wouldn't say it was for nothing, I _did_ get some amusement out of it."

"Well as long as _you_ enjoyed yourself." Robin looked around him at their surroundings, his gaze eventually falling upon his other friends playing on the other side of the lake. "So what do we do now?" he asked, still watching the others.

"We lie here in the sun until we dry off, then we go home. We'll just see where we go from there." She sounded so calm, and Robin admired her for that. She always knew how to handle potentially stressful situations.

With a loud yawn, Robin leaned back and rested his head on his arms, lying in the sun next to Raven, whose eyes were now closed again. This felt really nice, lying in front of a lake with the sun's warm rays falling upon him, the sound of his friends laughing in the distance, and knowing that Raven was next to him, probably thinking the same thing.

"Oh, and Robin?"

"Yes?" he asked quietly, not bothering to open his eyes.

"I _am_ glad that you convinced me to come."

* * *

Okay, that's the end. Phew, I finally got this posted. This idea's been on my mind for a little while, and I just wanted to get it done with.

Please review, I'd really like to hear what you thought about this story. It really doesn't take that long to do, and if you're really lazy (like I am most of the time,) you can just write something as simple as 'good' or 'sucked', depending on what you thought.

I appreciate constructive criticism, and I accept flames if you have any.(It's all part of the process.) Anyway, thanks for reading, and please please please review!


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